The Road Home
We're on our way back to C-town. Stopped for the evening in Dawson Creek. Doesn't look like the kind of amazing place you make a TV show around, but we seem to be on the outskirts so we'll make no sincere judgment. In a comfortable Ramada with a pub across the street. Just what the doctor ordered.
Was a little tough riding today. Feeling pretty defeated, but trying positively to run through all of the lessons learned so we can have a terrific trip next time. Lesson No. 1 I think was mentioned yesterday.
2 up + off the beaten path + camping gear + short deadline = bad
Any other combination would work. 2 up + motelling it the whole way for example, wouldn't be bad.
The real sticking point here was the timing factor. We left some wiggle room, but the wiggle room was really not nearly enough. Lack of time made some of the potentially best parts of the trip simply too brief. Not to mention the fact that there is stress involved in racing a clock. But getting on with the highlights:
Yesterday had another constructive conversation with a local in Whitehorse. Recommended a camp site/resort/hot springs that was on our path. Had a nice night and got to soak in a natural hot spring for the first time. Kind of like being in a hot tub in the middle of the jungle. The area around it was pretty interesting. Looked like a rain forest (and unfortunately acted like it...pretty wet), but there were pine trees. It was very surreal. Felt incredibly refreshed after a good soak.
Speaking of Whitehorse... the reason we went there was to deal with the tires (TKC-80s) that I had sent up there. Since I wasn't going to use them it made no sense to mount them. I had two options -- mail them back to myself (i.e. pay $$$$ to canada post) or sell them. I sold them to Yukon Yamaha for $150 CAD. I took a bath (but not any worse off then mailing them back) and they made a great deal. Usually you go to the store to buy crap, not the other way around. They'll make a good profit on those tires. The bonus was the insight about the springs... in the end I'm probably better off like this anyway.